Lehr. Thank you and good night. [ applause ] coming up this weekend on American History tv on cspan 3. The Abraham Lincoln president ial Library Foundation published a book of musics by public figures and ordinary americans celebrating or responding to lincolns gettysburg address. Editor of gettysburg replies, the world responds to Abraham Lincolns gettysburg address reads passages from the book saturday night at 8 50 p. M. Eastern. His presents still resonates from the words he has written and the artifacts and documents that he has left behind for our prosperity. He was a complex man who looked at complex issues plainly and purely. He accepted and spoke the truth. Many believe lincoln transseconded all over president s to have served before him and since. Then on real america the march in washington on august 28th, 1963, the u. S. Information agency filmed the march on washington for jobs and freedom and produced a documentary for foreign audiences. And sunday at 4 30 p. M. Eastern this year marks the 40th anniversary at Nasas Langley research center, historians recently discussed the viking program, which landed the first u. S. Spacecraft on mars on july 20th, 1976. The events surround were incredibly exciting. When the. For the press to see and to see that the landers had, in fact, landed on mars. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern on the presidency, historians look at president Harry Trumans leadership and how he interacted with three Prominent National politicians. Then former secretary of state Madeleine Albright speaks with historian michael beschlosch about his commitment as Vice President and president. In his life this is someone who should have gone to college. Should have gone to graduate school. Deeply wanted to. Couldnt do it. Mainly because of his familys economic circumstances. If theres one thing i think he felt strongly was that when he became president , he wanted to help others. One of the ways he did that was to strengthen the Community College system. For our complete American History tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. American history tv airs on cspan 3 every weekend telling the american story through events, interviews, and visits to historic locations. This month American History tv is in primetime to introduce you to programs you could see every weekend on cspan 3. Our features include lectures in history, visits to College Classrooms across the country, to hear lectures by top history professors. American art facts takes a look at the treasures at history Historic Sites and archives where, real america, revealing the 20th century through archival films and newsreels. The civil war where you hear about the people who shape the civil war in reconstruction, and the presidency focuses on u. S. President s and first ladies to learn about their politics, policies, and legacies. All this month in primetime and every weekend on American History tv on cspan 3. Monday night more American History tv and primetime here on cspan 3 focussing on the cold war. Beal look at americas refugee policy, radiation experiments on humans, and well show you a lecture from a lecture about the cold war. American history tv in primetime monday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan 3. Each week during the 2016 election road to the white house rewind brings you archival coverage of president ial races. Up next from a 2000 president ial race Vice President al gore and Texas Governor george bush take place in a town hall debate at Washington University in st. Louis. This was the third and final president ial debate in the 2000 campaign. The candidates are taking questions from undecided voters on issues and Foreign Policy. This debate is just over 90 minutes. Im jim leher of the news hour. I welcome you to this final debate between the democratic candidate for president , Vice President al gore, and the republican candidate, governor george w. Bush of texas. Lets welcome the candidates now. How are you doing . Governor. Before proceeding tonight, we would like to observe a moment of silence in memory of governor mel carnihan of many mo month who long with his son and a former chief of staff decide in a plane crash near st. Louis. A reminder, that these debates are sponsored on the commission of debates, the formats, and the rules were worked out by the commission and the two campaigns. Tonights questions will be asked by st. Louis area voters who were identified as being uncommitted by the gallop organization. Earlier today each of them wrote a question on a small card like this. Those cards were collected and given to me this afternoon. My job under the rules of the evening was to decide the order the questions will be asked and to call on the questioners accordingly. I also had the option of asking followups which in order to get to more of the panels questions for the record i plan to do sparingly and mostly for clarifications. The audience participants are bound by the following rule. They shall not ask followup questions or otherwise participate in the extended discussion. The questioners microphone will be turned off after he or she completes asking the question. Those are the rules. As in winstonsalem last week, no single answer or response from a candidate can exceed two minutes. There is an audience here in the hall, and they have promised to remain absolutely quiet as did their predecessors this year in boston, danville, and winstonsal winstonsalem. Before we begin a question from last week ae debate, i was wrong. I said Vice President gores campaign commercial said call governor bush a bumbler. That was made in a press statement. Not in a tv guide. Now, lets go to the first question. Of over the 130 questions we received from this panel. On health issues, it goes to you, mr. Vice president , and it will be asked by james hankens. Mr. Hankens . How do you feel about hmos and Insurance Companies making the critical decisions that affect peoples lives instead of the medical professions . Why are the hmos and Insurance Companies not held accountable for their decisions . Mr. Hankens, i dont feel good about it, and i think we ought to have a patients bill of rights to take the medical decisions away from the hmos and give them back to the doctors and the nurses. I want to come back and tell you why. If you will forgive me, i would like to Say Something right now at the beginning of this debate following on the moment of silence mel carnahan. Tipper and i were good friends with mel and randy, and i know that all of us here want to extend our sympathy and condolences to gene and the family and to the family. I would just like to say this debate in a way is a living tribute to mel carnahan because he loved the vigorous discussion of ideas of our democracy. He was a fantastic governor of missouri. The state became one of the top five in the nation for Health Care Coverage for children under his leadership. One of the best in advancing all kinds of benefits for children to grow up healthy and strong. Of course, says this debate also takes place at a time when the tragedy of the u. S. S. Cole is on our minds and hearts and insofar as the Memorial Services tomorrow, i would like to also extend the sympathy to the families of those who have died and those who are still missing. And the injured. Mr. Hankens, i think that the situation that you describe has gotten completely out of hand. Doctors are giving prescriptions. Theyre recommending treatments. Then their recommendations are being overruled by hmos and Insurance Companies. I support a Strong National patients bill of rights. It is a disagreement between us. The national law that is pending on this, the Dingell Norwood bill, a bipartisan bill time is up. The governor does not. Two minutes to respond, governor bush. I want to extend my prayers to the blessings on the families whose lives were overturned last night. Its a tragic moment. Actually, mr. Vice president , its not true. I do support a National Patients bill of rights. As a matter of fact, i brought republicans and democrats together. It requires a different kind of texas to get the bill of rights through. You see in order to get something done on behalf of the people, you have to put partisanship aside. A woman does not have to go through a gate keeper to go to her gynecologist. It says that you cannot gag a doctor, doctors can advise you of the hmos. In this particular bill allows patients to choose a doctor, their own doctor if they wanted to. We did Something Else that was interesting. We are one of the first states that said you can sue an hmo for denying the proper coverage. Now, there is something called an independent reviewer organization that you have to through first. You have to take your complaint through an objective body. Insurance company must follow those rules. If the Insurance Company does not follow lthe findings, that becomes a call of action in the court of law. It is time for our nation to come together and do whats right for the people. And i think this is right for the people. You know i support a National Patient i saw all people covered and i dont want the people to supercede. What i want to make sure we understand here, would you two agree on a National Patient bill of rights . Absolutely not. It is the bipartisan bill thats now pending in congress. The hmos and the Insurance Companies support the other bill thats pending. The one that the republican majority has put forward. They liked it because it does not accomplish what i think really needs to be accomplished to give the decisions back to the doctors and nurses and give you the right to appeal of some other other than the hmos Insurance Companies without having to call an hmo or 911. It had strong bipartisan support and being blocked by the republican leadership. I specifically would like to know whether governor bush will support the norwood bill which is the main one pending. The difference is that i can get it done. I can get something positive done on behalf of the people. Thats what the question of this campaign is about. It is not what your philosophy and position on issues. Can you get things done . I believe i can. What about the norwood bill . We are going to go now i talked about the principles and the issues that i think is important in a patients bill of rights. It is kind of washington dc, as well as this community or this sponsor, if i am the president , we are going to have emergency room care and gag orders and access to ogbyn, thats what i have done in texas and thats thats the kind of leadership style i will bring to washington. The next question on health issues, will be asked by marie payne, it goes to governor bush. Are either of you concern with here you go. [ laughs ] are either of you concern of lowering the price of pharmaceutical drugs such as education and minimizing in take and streamline the drug Company Procedures instead of just finding more money to pay for them. Well, thats a great question. I think one of the problems we had and for seniors no prescription coverage and medicare and therefore, they are to try to purchase drugs and they do so their own. So i think step one to make sure Prescription Drugs is more affordable for seniors and folks really rely on Prescription Drugs a lot these days is to reform the medicare system, is to have Prescription Drugs of an intergral part of medicare once and for all. The problem that we have today is like the patients bill of rights, the health care, there is a lot of bickering in washington dc. It is kind of like a political issue as oppose to peoples issues. I would like to call democrats and republicans to come together and take care of our Senior Prescription Drug Program that says well pay for the poor seniors and well help all seniors with Prescription Drugs. In the meantime, i think it is important to have this call of a meeting helping hand which is direct money to states so that seniors dont have to choose between food and medicine. Thats part of an overall, over haul, purchasing powers. I think price controls would hurt our ability to continue Important Research and development and drug therapies or replacing a lot of medicines as we used to know it. Continuing research and Development Component so i am against price controls and expediting drugs through the fda and made sense, of course. Allowing the new bill that was passed in congress and made sense to allow for drugs that were sold over seas to come back in the United States. The best thing to do is perform medicare. Vice president gore, twominutes. All right, here we go again. If you want someone wholl spend a lot of words describing a whole concluded process and end up supporting legislation thats supported by the big drug companies, this is your man. If you want someone wholl fight for you and wholl fight for the middle class families and working men and women, who are sick and tired of having their parents and grandparents paying higher prices for Prescription Drugs than anybody else then i want to fight them. You ask a great question because it is not only seniors. Listen for 24 years, i have never been afraid to take on the big drug companies. They do some great things. They discovered great new cures and thats great. We want them to continue that. But, they are now spending more money on advertising and promotions. You see all these ads on research than on development. Theyre trying to artificially trying to extend the monopoly patent of protection so they can charge these high prices. Now, briefly, let me tell you how my Prescription Drug plan works. The governor talked about medicare. I propose a real Prescription Drug benefits for all seniors. Here is how it works. You pick your own doctor and nobody can take that away from you. The doctor chooses the prescription that you need and nobody can over rule your doctor. You go to your own pharmacy and medicare pays after the price. If you are poor, they pay all of it. If you have a high cost when they pay all over 4,000 out of pocket and i will bring your competition to bring the price down. If you pass the Big Drug Companys bill, nothing will happen. Another health question, it comes from vicki french and it is for you, Vice President gore. Vicki, where are you . You pay billions of dollars in taxes, would you be open in a National Health care plan for everybody, if not why . If so, is this something you would try to implement if you are elected in office and what would you do to implement this plan . We should move step by step to towards universal Health Coverage. We spent 65 years now on the development of a hybrid system partly private and partly public. And 85 of our people have Health Insurance and 15 dont. That adds up to 44 million people. Thats a national outrage, we have got to get Health Coverage for those who do not have it. We have got to improve the quality for those who do. The patients bill of rights, thats real and it works. The norwood bill, we have to fill in the gap and coverage by finally bringing parody for treatments of Mental Illness because thats been left out. We got to deal with longterm care. Here are the steps that i would ta take, first of all, i will make a commitment to bring Health Care Coverage of high quality thats affordable to every single child of america within four years. And then well fill other gaps by covering the parents of those children when the families is poor or up to two and a halftimes of poverty rate. I want to give tax credits for individual plan. I want to give 25 to encourage the providing of Health Insurance for the employees and Small Businesses. I want to give seniors, well, the near elderly, i dont like that term because i am just about in that category. Those 55 to 65 ought to be able to buy care significantly below of what they have now. We have a big difference on this. You need to know the record here. Under governor bush, texas had sunk to be 50th out of 50 in Health Insurance. Last week he said that they were spending 3. 7 billion, 4. 7 billion on this. Mr. Vice president , times up. Governor bush, twominutes. I am absolutely opposed to a National Health care plan. I dont want the federal government making decisions for consumers or for providers. I remember what the administration tried to do in 1993, they tried to have a National Health care plan and it failed. I trust people, i dont trust the federal government. It is one of the themes you will hear tonight. I dont want the federal government making decisions on behalf of anybody. There is an issue of the uninsu uninsured. We got uninsured people in my state and big and fast growing state. We share a common border with another nation. We are providing health care for our people. One thing about insurance. Thats a washington term. The question is, are people getting health care. There needs to be a safety net in america and needs to be community and Health Clinics or the poor could get health care. We need programs for the uninsured. They have been talking about in washington dc. The number of uninsured have gone up for the past seven years. We need a 2,000 credit, rebate for people working people who dont have insurance where they can get in the mark place to start purchasing insurance. We need to allow Small Businesses to ride across insurance of jurisdiction lines and Small Business can afford health care and small restaurants can afford health care. Health care needs to be affordable and available. We got to trust people making decisions in our lives. In the medicare reform i am talking about, if you are senior, you can stay in medicare if you like it. Well give you other choices to choose if you would like to do so. Just like they do with the federal pleemployees. People working in washington dc, the u. S. Senate, get a variety of choices to make in their lives. Thats what we ought to do for all people in america. Governor. Not paying attention. Not right now. Education, these folks submitted 18 questions on education and the first one will be asked on education is to you governor. Angie, where are you . I heard a lot about education and the need to hold teachers and schools accountable. I certainly agree with that. As an individual with an educational background and a parent, i have seen a lot of incidents where the parents are unresponsive to the teachers or flat out uninvolved in their childs education. How do you intend to not only hold the teachers in schools accountable but also parents. You know it is hard to make people love one another. I wish i knew the law. I wish i knew the law that all of us to be good parents. The next president needs to remind people if we are going to have a responsible period in america that each of us must love your children with all our hearts and souls. I think when you measure and pose results on the internet or the town newspapers, most parents say wait a minute, my child school is not doing what i wanted to do therefore it becomes involved in education. I recognize some that dont seem to care. But, there are a lot of parents who feel like everything is going well in their childs school. All of a sudden, they wake up and realize, wait a minute, standards are being met. Thats why i am so strong for accountability. I believe we ought to measure a lot three, four or seven or eighth grade, we do some in my state of texas, one of the good things we have done in texas is we got strong accountability because you cannot cure unless you know. You cannot solve a problem unless you diagnose it. I strongly believe that one of the best things to encourage involvement is to know that the classroom is safe and secure. Thats why i supported a teacher Liability Act at the federal level. It says a teacher or principle uphold reasonable class rooms. They cannot be sued. I know parents are involved when they know their childrens classrooms are safe. If you cannot meet standards, there has to be a consequence. There has to be a consequence, we cannot continue to shovel children through schools and one of the consequences is parents having different choices. Vice president gore. Yeah, we have al huge difference between us on this question. I would like to start by telling you what my vision is. I see a day in United States of america where all of our Public Schools are considered excellent. World class where there are no failing schools where the classrooms are small enough in size, of number of students so the teachers can spend enough one on one time with teach students. That means recruiting new teachers for the rePublic Schools. In my plan hiring bonuses for the next four years and helping local School Districts that sometimes finding parents of School Age Children out voted on bond issues to give them some help with interest bonding authorities so we can build these schools and modernize the classrooms and we need to give teachers training and development and paid time off to visit a classroom of a Master Teacher and picking up new skills. I want to give every middle class family a 10,000 a year Tax Deduction for College Tuition so that middle class families will be able to send their kids off to college. I want to work for universal preschools. We know from all the studies that youngsters, kids learn more. There is a contrast, governor bush is for vouchers. He proposes to drain more taxpayers money out for private School Vouchers than all of the money he proposes in his entire budget for Public Schools himself. Only one and 20 students are eligible and they would not pay the full tuition of private schools. Thats a mistake. I dont think we should give up on the private schools and leaving kids trap and failing schools. We should make it the number one priority to make our schools the best in the world, aulg of ll o. Governor, whats your position . Here is what i think, if you want to do a voucher program, thats fine. I believe in local control. I am a governor of the state, i dont like it when the federal government tells us what to do. Here is what i have said. To the extent we send federal money on disadvantage children, we want the school to show us whether or not the children are learning. Whats unreasonable about that . If we find successful, praise it. When we find children trapped in schools and will not change or teach, except of saying oh, this is okay in america just to shovel poor kids through schools, there has to be a consequence. The consequence is that federal portion of federal money would go to the participaents so the s can go to a Public School or another private school. There has to be a consequence. We got a society that says hey, the status quo is fine, just move them through. Whats the harm in that . The program that hes proposing is not the one that he just described. Under your plan, governor bush, states would be required to pay vouchers to students to match the vouchers of the federal government would put up. The way it would happen is under his plan, if a school is designated as failing, the kids would be trapped there for another three years and then some of them would get federal vouchers and the states would be forced to match that money. Under my plan, if a school is failing, we work with the states to give them the authority and resources to close down that school and reopen it right away with a new principal, a new faculty and a turn around team of specialists who knows what they are doing and based on the plan of governor jim hunt in North Carolina and it worked great. So no vouchers. If i thought there is no alternative then i might feel differently. I have an obligation to fight to make sure there are no failing schools. We got to turn around. Most schools are excellent. We got to make sure all of them are. Andrew cosper has a related question right on this subject. Mr. Andrew, where are you . Mr. Vice president. In a School District in which i work and count less others, we face crumbling School Buildings and increased violence and studen students apathy and over crowding and lack of funding and lawsuits, the list goes on. I can mention low teacher pays but i wont. What can you tell me and my fellow american teachers today about your plans for your future. What grade do you teach . Oh, thats a violation of your rule. High school. Bra [ laughs ] i mentioned that the local communities are having a harder time passing bond issues. If you are involved in a Campaign Like that, the parents in schools, the ones that turn out and vote, there are now smaller percent of voters, because of the aging of our population. The same time, we got the largest generation of students in Public Schools. More than 90 of children go to Public Schools. It is the largest number ever this year and it will break the record next year and every year for ten years running. We got to do something about this and local, it is not enough to leave it up to the local School Districts. They are not able to do it. Our future depends on it. We are in an information age. Our Economic Future depends on whether or not our children are going to get the kind of education that lets them go onto college, again, i want to make it possible for all middle class families to send their kids to college and more pell grants. And then i want to make sure that we have job training on top of that and Lifelong Learning. It all starts with the Public Schoolteachers. My proposal gives 10,000 hiring bonuses for those teachers who gets certified to teach in areas where they are most needed. Accountability, we basically agreed on that. My plan requires testings of all students. It requires something that governor bush does not. It requires testing of all new teachers including in the subjects that they teach. We have to start teaching teachers like professionals they are and give them the respect of the more quality in life thatll draw people into teaching because we need a lot more teachers. Governor bush. Twominutes. It is the largest increase of federal spending in years and there is not enough money. I made education my number one priority. Thats what governors ought to do. They ought to say this is the most important thing we do as a state. The federal government puts about 6 of the money up. They put about, you know, 60 of the string where you have to fill out the paper work. I want to send flexibility authority to the local folks and you can choose what to do with the money. One size does not fit all. I worry about federalizing education, if i were you. I believe strongly that the federal government can help and need the fund head start. We need to have accountable. The Vice President s plan does not have annual accountable, third grade and fourth grade and fifth grade, we need to demand on results. I believe strongly like i mention, i hear from teachers all the time about the lawsuits and threats and respecting in the classrooms. Part of this because you cannot control the classrooms. You cannot have a consequence for somebody without fears of getting sued. I am going to ask congress to pass a teachers protection act. I believe in flexibility and diagnostic testings and curriculum that works by the way. There needs to be flexibility for teacher training and hiring and federal money. The federal government can be apart but dont fall prey to all of this stuff of money here and there because education is really funded at the local level, 94 comes from the local level. Vice president gore is the governor when he says you are prosing the largest federal spending in years. Absolutely not. I am so glad i had a chance to knock it down. The problem is under governors bushs plan, 1. 6 trillion tax cuts mostly the the wealthy under his own budget numbers. He proposed us spending more money just for the wealthiest 1 than all of the new money he budgets for education and health care and national defense, combined. Under my plan, well balance the budget every year. I am not just saying this and talking. I have helped balance the budget in 30 year and paying down the debt and under my plan in four years as a percentage of gross domestic products. Federal spending will be the smallest that it has been in 50 years. The third biggest spending item in our budget is interest on the national debt. We get nothing for it and we keep the good faith of the United States, i will pay down the debt every single year until it is eliminated earlier in the next decaddecade. That gets rid of the third biggest intrusion of the federal government in our economy. Now, because the governor has all this money for a declaration of independence schools get testing and lawsuit reforms and not much else. Governor, the Vice President says you are wrong. Well, hes wrong. [ laughs ] just add up all the number, it is three times bigger than what bill clinton proposed. Plthree times . My turn . Yes. [ laughs ] forget the journalist. We propose more than combined. This is a big spender. We have a different philosophy. Let me talk about patax relief. The Vice President believes that only the right people ought to get tax relieves. I dont think thats the role of the president to pick. You are right and you are not right. I think if you are going to have tax relief, everybody ought to get it. Wealthy people are going to get it. The top 1 will end up paying onethird of the taxes in america and they get 1 5 of the benefits. Thats because we structure the plan so that 6 million additional American Families pay no taxes. If you are a family of four making 50,000 in missouri, you get a 50 cut in your federal income tax. What i have done is set priorities and funded it and there is extra money. I believe the people paying the bills on it get some money back. He wants to grow the government and i trust you with your own money. I wish you can spend an hour on trusting people. Governor, just to reverse it. What do you say specifically to what the Vice President said tonight many, many times that your tax cut benefits the top 1 of the wealthest americans. Of course, it does. If you pay taxes, you are going to get a benefit. People that pay taxes will get tax relief. Why should they . This is a fair plan. You know why . The tax code is unfair for people at the bottom end of the economic level. If you are a single mother making 22,000 a year today and trying to raise two children, for every dollar you earn, you are paying a higher rate for someone making 1,000 and thats not right. Vice president gore. This is not about governor bush or me. It is about you. And i want to come back to something i said before, if you want somebody who believes we are better off eight years ago than we are now, we ought to go back to the policies that we have now emphasizing tax cuts for the wealthy, here is your man. If you want somebody wholl fight for you and wholl fight to have mental class tax cut s then i am your man. I want to be. I doubt anybody here making more than 300 tha 300,000 a year. It would be a violation of the rule. I am not going to ask. If anyone here in this audience was dead on in the middle of the middle class, then the tax cuts for every single one of you all added up would be less than his plan would give of just one member of that top wealthiest 1 . You judge for yourself. Quick and well move on. You may not be one of them, you are not the right people. Secondly, we have enough fighting. It is time to unite. You talk about eight years and they have not gotten anything done in medicare or Social Security or patients bill of rights. It is time to get something done. I got to answer that, jim. I cast the tie breaking vote to add 26 years to the life of medicare. It was due to go bankrupt in 1999. That 50 million figure, again, you said forget the journalists, but they are the keepers of the score card and whether or not or not that fact is just not right. We are going to move on. We have to move on. All right, there were twelve questions on foreign and military matters. And the first one theyll ask will be directed to you, governor bush and David Norwood is going to ask it. Mr. Norwood, where are you . What would make you the best candidate in office during the middle east crisis . I have ban leader. I am a person that sets clear vision and convinced people to follow. I got a strategy for the middle east. Our nation now needs to speak with one voice during this time and i applaud the president for working hard to diffuse attentions. We got to keep focus. The leader understands that the United States must be strong to keep the peace. Sudam hassan is still a threat in the middle east. Hes a man maybe developing massive weapons. We dont know. To answer your question, requires clear vision and willingness to standby our friends and the credibility of people both friends and foes to understand when america says something, we mean it. Vice president gore. I see a future when the world is at peace with the United States of america promoting the values of democracy and human rights and freedom all around the world. In iran, they have had an election that began to bring back some change. We stand for those values. Right now our military is strongest in the entire history of the world. I pledge to you i will do whatever it is necessary to make sure it stays that way. Now, what can i bring to that challenge. When i wassing a youwas a young was a senator opposed to the vietnam war. When i graduated from college. There were plenty of fancy ways to get out of going in being apart of that. I went and avolunteered and i went to vietnam. I didnt run the graeatest risk by a long shot. I learned what it is like to be an enlisted man. In the congress and house of representatives, i served in the house intelligent committee. I work hard to learn the subject of nuclear arm control and how we can defuse tensions. We are going to face some serious new challenges in the next four years. I have worked on that long and hard. When i went to the United States senate, i asked for an assignment to the Arm Services Committee and while i was there, i worked on a bipartisan bases as i did in the house. I worked with former president reagan on the modernization of our weapons. In the senate, i was ten democrats along with senator joe letterman. And for the last eight years i have served on National Security council. Can i say one other thing here . No, sir. Well get back at it. It is a related question by kenneth allen. Mr. Allen. Today our military forces are stretched thinner and doing more than they have done before during peacetime. I would like to know what you are thinking and we all like to know what you as president would do to ensure proper resources for the Current Mission and or choosing a time and place where our forces are used around the world. Thank you, sir, i started to say the last eight years i have been on the National Security council and last week i suspended campaigning for two days to go back and participate in the meetings that shorted the president of summit meeting that he just returned from earlier today. And our team of our countrys team over there did a great job. It is a difficult situation. The United States have to be strong in order to make sure that we can help promote peace and securities and stability. That means keeping our military strong. Now, i said earlier that we are the the strongest military. We need to improve readiness and making sure that our personnel are adequately paid and their benefits and veterans is comparable to the stiff competition that is coming in a Strong Economy from the private sector. I have supported the largest pay raise and i support another one now. I also support modernization of our strategic and tactical weapons. I think would be a mistake because one of the ways we have been able to be so successful in bosnia and haiti and other places, is by having the technological edge, you know, we won that conflict without losing a single american live in combat. Readine readiness, the trend before i got my current job were on the decline. The number were reduced. I argue we should reverse that trend and take it backup. I am happy to tell you that i have. For my budget the next ten years, i proposed 100 million for this. The governor proposed 45 million. I proposed more than twice because i think it is needed. Governor bush. If this was a spinning contest, i would come in second. I am not going to grow the size of the federal government than he is. Here is your question of deployment. Must be in the National Interest or our vital interest where we sent troops. The mission must be cleared. Soldiers must understand why we are going. The force must be Strong Enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategies need to be well defined. I am concerned we are over deployed around the world. The mission has some what becoming fuzzy. There maybe some moments where we use our troops as peace keepers but not often. The Vice President mentioned and my view longterm of the military. I want to make sure the equipment for our military is the best it can be, of course. We have an opportunity to use our research and development capacities and Great Technology of the United States to make your military lighter and more leth lethal. We have the opportunity and smart and a strategic reason and our leaders to understand a strategic planning. To make sure that we change the terms of the battlefield so we can make keep the pieces of a peaceful nation, i intend to keep the peace. Spending money is one thing. First thing i am going to ask is secretary of defense to follow the plan. Making sure we spend on projects making sure our soldiers are well paid and well housed and have the best equipment in the world. Governor bush, another kind of gun question. It will be asked by robert lutz. Mr. Lutz. Governor bush. Yes, sir. I would like to know what is your opposition to debating the handgun bill. I am sorry. I didnt hear that. Our recent tv ad shows that the National Rifle association, if you are elected theyll be working out of your office. I dont think they ran that ad. Let me tell you that kind of bothers me. I want you to explain the ad to me. I dont think i ran the ad. That was not my ad. Might have been one of my opponents ads. Here is what i believe sir. I believe lawabiding citizens should be allowed to protect themselves and their families. I believe we ought to keep guns out of people that should not have it. We distribute free trigger logs locks in the state of texas so people could get them. We should raise the age from which juveniles should have a gun but i believe strongly that we need to enforce laws in the books that the best way to make sure that we keep our society safe and secure is to hold people accountable for breaking the law. If we catch somebody illegally selling the guns, it needs to be a consequence. Force the law and the federal government can help. It is a Great Program called project exile, we focus taxpayers money and federal prosecutors. We illegally using guns. To me, thats how you make society the safest could be. Sometimes i agree with some of these groups in washington and sometimes i dont. I am a pretty independent thinker. One thing i am for is a safe society. And i am enforcing the law in the book that thats whats going to happen. T Vice President gore. It was not one of my ads. I am familiar with the statement and it was made by one of the top ranking officials of that organization. Let me tell you my position. Gun Safety Measures are certainly needed with the flood of cheap handguns that have sometimes been working their ways in the hands of the wrong people. All of my proposals are focused on that problem, gun safety. Gun of my proposals would have any respect on hunters, sportsman or people who use rivals, they are aimed at the real problem. Lets make our schools safe and neighborhoods safe. Lets have a threeday waiting period and cooling off so we can have a background check and make sure that criminals and people who should not have guns dont get them. The last eight years, i have had the challenge of running the streamlining program called reinventing governor. If there is any federal employees in this group, you know what it means. The federal government has been reduced in size by more than 300,000 people. It is now the smallest number that we have had in size since john f. Kennedy. The federal government has gone down and texas government has gone up. My plan for the future and i see a time where we have smaller and smarter government where you dont have to wait in line where you can get Services Online and cheaper and better and faster. Steve looker has a question and it is for Vice President gore. Mr. Looker. There you go. Vice president gore. The family farms are disappearing and having a hard time even in the current positive economic environment, what steps would you or your economic would take to protect family farms of the multi functional service they perform. But, thats the good news. You know what the bad news is, it follows on that of prices and lows. The freedom to farm law has been an attempt. I want to change many of its o provisions. Many here who are not involved in farming adodont follow thisd forgive me. The 2 of the country involved in this you guys have been having a hard time and i want to fight for you. I want to change those revisions and i want to restore a meaningful and safety net. I think that you pointed the way in your comments because when you say they are multiple things accomplished by farmers, you are including conservation, protection of the environment. Yes, farmers are the first environmentalists. When they decide not to plow a field that is vulnerable to erosions, that may cost some money but it helps the environment. I think that we ought to have an expanded conservation program. I think that the environmental benefit that comes from sound management of the land ought to represent a new wave for foarme to g s to get income to make choices. I see a time when the internet based activities are more available in the rural areas and where the extra source of income and the farm families used to have from the shoe feedbaactory replaced from the working information of congress. We need to do a lot of things but we ought to start with a safety net. Governor bush, twominutes. We need to open up markets and exports are down. Every time an export number goes down, it hurts the farmer. I want the next president to fast track negotiating authorities and opening the markets around the world. We are best and most efficient farmers. I want to use food as a diplomatic weapon. We should not be using food, it hurts the farmers and it is not the right thing to do. I am for value added processing. We need more work on value added processing. Value added process is important. I am for Research Development so that we can use our base to figure out new uses for farm products. I am for getting rid of the debt taxes. One of the reasons family farmers are forced to sell early is because of the debt tax. The president should not veto that bill. It is a tax that tax people twice and penalizes family farmers. Should i be fortunate to earn your vote. I also understand that farming is apart of our National Security. I am from a big farm stable and the Vice President is right. If you own a land and i liked the policies that encourage farmers to set aside land as well for conservation purposes. A quick thing on the inheritance tax. There is a difference between the two of you on this. Vice president gore. Yeah. I am for a massive reform of the death tax. 80 of family farms to be exempted. The vast majority of all Family Business would be completely exempt and all the others should sharply reduce. The prop of eliminating it goes back to the wealthy 1 . The amount of money that has to be raised to make up for completely eliminating that on the wealthiest billionaires, that would be an extra heavy burden on middle class families. Lets do it for most of all but not completely eliminating. Whats the case of doing that . Eliminating the debt tax . People should not be taxed twice. It is unfair for some or all. Again, this is a difference of opinion. If you are from washington, you want to pick and choose winners. I dont think thats the role of the president. I think you will have tax relief. Secondly, i think your plan, a lot of fine print you are playing mr. Vice president. I am not sure 80 of the people get the death tax. I know 100 will get it if i am the president. I dont think it is fair. You tax peoples assets twice. It is an issue of principles and not politics. New issue, joyce. Hi governor, i am concerned about the morality of our country now, tvs and movies and the music that our children are watching everyday. I want to know if there is anything that could be worked out with hollywood or whoever to get rid of some of these bad language or whatever. It is just bringing the country down and our children are important to us and we are concerned about their education at schools which should be concerning of their education at home also. Appreciate that question. Lauren and i are proud parents of teenage girls of twin daughters and i know what you are saying. Parents are teaching our children right from wrong. The message gets under mind by the popular culture. You bet that there are things that the government can do. We can work with the Entertainment Industry to provide, we can have filters on internets where public money is spent. There ought to be filters in Public Libraries and filter in Public Schools so the kids getting on the internet there is not going to be pornography and violence coming in. We ought to have parents education for our schools. I know that does not talk about hollywood but it reenforce the values you are teaching, greatly expanding funding so that Public Schools will teach children values, values which stood to test at times. There is after school money for faith base programs and charitable programs that exists. Thatll help reenforce the values that parents teach at home as well. It is a great land. I dont support censorship but we should talk to hollywood moguls and explain the consequences. I like the idea of having technology for tvs for parents to use where you dont want these programs. The best weapon is the off and on button and paying attention to your children and eating dinner with them. It is my turn. I care a lot about this. It is not just movies. Televisions and video games and internet and music. Parents now feel like you have to compete with the mass cultures in order to raise your kids with the values you want them to have. Tipper and i have four children and god bless everyone of them decided on their own to come here this evening. I dont want to embarrass our oldest daughter, they made us grandparents a year and a half ago. When she was little, she brought a record home that had awful lyrics in it and tipper hit the ceiling. That launched a campaign who tried to get the Record Company to put in ratings and warning levels for parents. I am so proud of what she accomplished and getting them on there. I have been involved myself and negotiating and help moving along negotiations with the Internet Service provider to get a parent protection page. A feature that allows parent to automatically check with one click what site your kids have visited lately. Some parents are worried about those filters that you have to ask your kids. If you can check up on them, thats real power. And, recently the federal trade commission pointed out omnivothe of these Entertainment Companies have warned parents and they turned around the backs of children and thats an outrage. We gave them six months to clean their act. If they dont do it, well ask for tough every authorities on the false of advertising. I want to do something about this, respect the First Amendment but i will do something to help you raise your kids without that garbage. Already, Vice President gore, the next question is for you and will be asked by steven guzman. Where are isnt it true. Right behind me as well. I am seems like when we hear about issues of this campaign is medicare and Social Security and Prescription Drugs. As a college professor, i hear a lot of apathy among young people who feels issues directed to them. Yeah. They dont plan to vote. How do you address that . We got to change it. I spent a good deal of time talking to young people and my standard speech out there, i usually end my speech by saying i want to ask you for something and i want to direct it to the young people in the audience. I want to tell you what i tell them. Sometimes, people who are very idealistic and have great dreams as young people do staying at arms length from the political process. If they invest their hopes and allow themselves to believe, then theyre going to be led down and disappointed. Thank goodness, we have enough people whos been willing in generation to pushing and becoming deeply involved in forming the perfect union. We are america and we believe in our future. We have the ability to shape our future. Now, we got to address one of the biggest threats to our democracy and thats the Current Campaign financing system. I know that they say it does not rank anywhere in the polls. I dont believe thats a fair measure. I am telling you i will make a mccain finance bill of the first measure that i sent to congress as president. Governor bush imposes it. I wish he would consider changing his mind on that. The special interests have too much power and we need to give our democracy back to the american people. Let me tell you why, those issues you mentioned, Social Security and Prescription Drugs, the Big Drug Company are against the Prescription Drug proposal that i made. The hmos are against the patients of the norwood bill that i support and governor bush did not support. The Big Companies are against the measures to get it more energy and independent of renewable fuels. They ought to get their voices heard. They should not have a big megaphones that drowns out the people. We need to shoot straight with the young and old and alive of what the choices are. We can renew and rekindle our spirit. We can. All right, governor bush. Twominutes. I will tell you what i hear. A lot of people are sick of tired of bitterness in washington dc and and casting blame. And saying one thing and doing another. A lot of young folks saying, why do i want to be involved with this mess . And what i think needs to happen in order to encourage the young to become involved is to shoot straight, is to set aside the partisan differences and set an agenda that will make sense. Medicare, i know you talked about it, but medicare is relevant for all of us, young and old alike. We better get it right now. Tax reform is relevant for old and young alike. I dont think it is the issues that turn kids off. I think it is the tone. I think it is the attitude. I think it is a cynicism in washington and it doesnt have to be that way. Before i decided to run, i had to resolve two issues in my mind. One, could our family endure all this business . I came to the conclusion that our love was Strong Enough to be able to do it. The other was, could an administration change the tone in washington, d. C. . And i believe the answer is yes. Otherwise, i wouldnt be asking for your vote. Thats what happened in texas. We Work Together. Theres a man in this audience who is a chairman of the health committee. He came here for reasons to tout our record on health in texas. Hes a democrat. I didnt care if youre republican or democrat, what i care about is can we Work Together . Thats what washington, d. C. Needs. And finally, sir, to answer your question. It needs somebody in office to tell the truth. Thats the best way to get people back in the system. Governor bush, norma kirby has the next question and its for you. Where are you . Hi, norma. Hi. How will your administration address diversity, inclusiveness, and what role will affirmative action play in your overall plan . I got a record of bringing people from all walks of life into my administration, and my administration is better off for it in texas. Im going to find people that want to serve their country. But i want a diverse administration. I think its important. I have worked hard in the state of texas to make sure our institutions are reflecting the state with good, smart policy. Policy that rejects quotas. I dont like quotas. They tend to pit one group of people against another. Thats not what america is all about. But policies that give people a helping hand so they can help themselves. For example, in our state of texas, i worked with the legislature, both republicans and democrats to pass a law that says if you come in the top 10 of your high school class, youre automatically admitted into one of our higher institutions of learning, college. And as a result, our universities are now more diverse. Its a smart thing to do. I labeled it affirmative access. I think the contracting business in government can help. Not with quotas, but help meet a goal of ownership, of Small Businesses, for example. The contracts need to be smaller. The agencies need to recruit and to work hard to find people to bid on the state contracts. I think we can do that in a way that represents what america is all about, which is equal opportunity and an opportunity for people to realize their potential. So to answer your question, i support, i guess, the way to put it, affirmative access. And ill have an administration that will make you proud. Thank you. I believe in the goal and effort with all my heart. I believe that our future as a nation depends upon whether or not we can break down these barriers that have been used to pit group against group and bring our people together. How do you do it . Well, you establish respect for differences. You dont ignore differences. Its all too easy for somebody in the majority in the population to say, oh, were just all the same. Without an understanding of the different lives experiences you had and others have had. Once you have that understanding and much respect, we can transcend them. I dont know what affirmative access means. I do know what affirmative action means. I know the governor is against it and im for it. I know what a hate crime statute pending at the National Level is all about in the aftermath of james byrds death. Im for that proposed law, the governor is against it. I know what it means to have a commitment to diversity. Im part of an administration that has the finest record on diversity and incidentally, an excellent i think our success over the last eight years has not been in spite of diversity but because of it, because were able to draw on the wisdom and experience from different parts of the society that havent been tapped in the same way before. And incidentally, mel carnahan in missouri had the finest record on diversity of any governor in the entire history of the state of missouri. I want to honor that among his other achievements here. Now, i just believe that what we have to do is enforce the civil rights laws. Im against quotas. This is, with all due respect to the governor, thats a red herring. Affirmative action isnt quotas. Im against quotas. Theyre illegal. Theyre against the american way. Affirmative action means that you take extra steps to acknowledge the history of discrimination and injustice and prejudice and bring all people into the american dream, because it helps everybody. Not just those who are directly benefitting. Governor, are you opposed to affirmative action . No, affirmative action means quotas, im against it. If it means what i just described, what im for, then im for it. You heard what i was for. He keeps saying im against things. You heard what i was for. Thats what i support. Mr. Vice president , you heard what he said. He said if affirmative action means quotas, hes against it. Affirmative action doesnt mean quotas. Are you for it without quotas . I may not be for your version, mr. Vice president , but im for what i just described to the lady. Are you for what the Supreme Court says is a constitutional way of having affirmative action . Jim, lets go on to another i think that speaks for itself. Speaks for itself, mr. Vice president. It speaks for the fact there are rules that we agree to, but evidently, rules dont mean anything. The question is for you, Vice President gore. And lisa will ask it. Lisa, where are you . Here we go. Sorry. How will your tax proposals affect me as a middleclass 34yearold Single Person with no dependents . If you make less than 60,000 a year, and you decide to invest 1,000 in a savings account, youll get a tax credit which means in essence that the federal government will match your 1,000 with another 1,000. If you make less than 30,000 a year and you put 500 in a savings account, the federal government will match it with 1,500. If you make more than 60,000 up to 100,000, youll still get a match but not as generous. You will get an access to Lifelong Learning and education, help with tuition if you want to get a new skill or training. If you want to purchase Health Insurance, you will get help with that. If you want to participate in some of the dynamic changes that are going on in our country, you will get specific help in doing that. If you are part of the bottom 20 or so of wage earners, then you will get an expanded earned income tax credit. Now, the tax relief that i propose is directed specifically at middle income individuals and families. And if you have if you have an elderly parent or grandparent who needs longterm care, then you will get help with that. 3,000 tax credit to help your expenses in taking care of a loved one who needs longterm care. Governor bush . Let me just say about the entitlement he tried to describe about savings and matching savings here and matching savings there, if fully funded, its going to cost a whole lot of money, a lot more than we have. Youre going to get tax relief under my plan. Youre not going to be targeted in or out. Everybody who pays taxes gets tax relief. If you take care of elderly, you get a personal exemption increase. What about medicare . You get a plan that will include Prescription Drugs. A plan that will give you options, now, i hope people understand that medicare today is important, but it doesnt keep up with the new medicines. If youre a medicare person on medicare, you dont get the new procedures. Youre stuck in a time warp in many ways. It will be a modern medicare system that trusts you to make a variety of options for you. Youre going to live in a peaceful world, a world of peace because were going to have a clear sighted Foreign Policy based upon a Strong Military and a mission that stands by our friends. A mission that doesnt try to be all things to all people, a judicious use of the military to help keep the peace. Youll be in a world hopefully with more educated so its less likely youll be harmed in your neighborhood. An educated child is one much more likely to be hopeful and optimistic. A world which fits into my philosophy of harder work, the harder you work, the more you can keep. Its the american way. Government shouldnt be a heavy hand. For the federal government. It should be a helping hand. Tax relief and proposals i just described should be a good helping hand. Governor, next question is for you. And leo anderson will ask it. Hi, leo. You want a mike . The subject of Capital Punishment came up, and in your response to the question, you seemed overly enjoyed, as a matter of fact, proud that texas led the nation in execution of prisoners. Sir, did i misread your response and are you really proud of the fact that texas is number one in executions . No, im not proud of that. The Death Penalty is very serious business, leo. Its an issue that good people obviously disagree on. I take my job seriously. If you think i was proud of it, i think you misread me. I do. I was sworn to uphold the laws in my state. During the course of the campaign in 1994, i was asked, do you support the Death Penalty . I said i did. If administered fairly and justly because i believe it saves lives. I do. I think if its administered swiftly, fairly, and justly, it saves lives. One of the things that happens when youre a governor is oftentimes you have to make tough decisions. You cant let public persuasion sway you because the jobs to enforce the law. And thats what i did, sir. There have been some tough cases come across my desk. Some of the hardest moments since i have been the governor of the state of texas is to deal with those cases. But my job is to ask two questions, sir. Is the person guilty of the crime . And did the person have full access to the courts of law . And i can tell you looking at you right now, in all cases, those answers were affirmative. Im not proud of any record. Im proud of the fact that Violent Crime is down in the state of texas. Im proud of the fact that that we hold people accountable. But im not proud of any record, sir. No. Vice president gore . I support the Death Penalty. I think that it has to be administered not only fairly with attention to things like dna evidence, which i think should be used in all capital cases. But also with the very careful attention, if for example somebody confessed to the crime and somebody is waiting on death row, there has to be alertness to say, wait a minute, have we got the wrong guy . If the wrong guy is put to death, thats a double tragedy. Not only as an innocent person been executed but the real perpetrator of the crime has not been held accountable for it. In some cases, may still be at large. But i support the Death Penalty in the most heinous cases. Do both of you believe that the Death Penalty actually deters crime . I do. Thats the only reason to be for it. Let me finish. Sure. I dont think we should use it to seek revenge. I dont think thats right. I think the reason to support the Death Penalty is because it saves other peoples lives. I think it is a deterrent. I know thats controversial, but i believe its a deterrent. Next question is for you, Vice President gore. Thomas fischer will ask it. Mr. Fischer . Yes. My sixth grade class at st. Clair school wanted to ask, all these promises you guys are making and all the pledges, will you keep them when youre in office . Yes. I am a person who keeps promises. And you know, weve heard a lot about, from the governor about not much being done in the last eight years. This promises that i made eight years ago have not been kept. I think the record shows otherwise. We have gone from the biggest deficit eight years ago to the biggest surpluses in history today. Instead of high unemployment, we now have the lowest africanamerican unemployment, the lowest latino unemployment ever measured. 22 million new jobs. Very low unemployment nationally. Instead of ballooning the debt and multiplying it four times over, we have seen the debt actually begun to be paid down. Here are some promises that ill make to you now. I will balance the budget every year. I will pay down the debt every year. I will give middleclass americans tax cuts. Meaningful ones. And i will invest in education, health care, protecting the environment, and retirement security. We both made promises in this campaign. I promise you i will keep mine. Let me tell you about one of the governors. He has promised a trillion dollars out of the Social Security trust fund for young working adults to invest and save on their own, but hes promised seniors that their Social Security benefits will not be cut, and hes promised the same trillion dollars to them, so this is a showme state. Reminds me of the line from the movie, show me the money. Which one of those promises will you keep and which will you break, governor . Governor bush . Thank you for your question. I theres an Old High School debating trick, which is to answer something and then attack your opponent at the end. You asked about promises. You were promised that medicare would be reformed. And that Social Security would be reformed. You were promised the middle class tax cut in 1992. It didnt happen. Theres too much bitterness in washington. Theres too much wrangling. Its time to have a fresh start. One of the reasons i was successful as the governor of texas is because i didnt try to be all things to all people. When i campaigned in a race, a lot of folks didnt think i could win, including, by the way, my mother. I said i do four things. Tort reform, education reform, welfare reform, and juvenile justice reform. And i won. And i had the will of people in my state behind me. Then i brought folks together to get it done. Thats what we need in this election. To me, thats what its all about. Im sure your sixth grade kids are saying these guys will say anything to get elected. But theres a record and thats what i hope people will look at. One of my promises will be Social Security reform. You bet, we need to take a trillion dollars out of their 2. 4 trillion surplus, and remember, Social Security revenue exceeds 2016. People are going to get paid. If youre younger, you better hope this country thinks differently, otherwise youre going to be faced with huge pay roll taxes and you better take a trillion of your own money and let you invest it to get a better rate of return on the money than the paltry 2 the government gets for you today. Thats one of my promises, but its going to require people to bring both democrats and republicans together to get it done. Thats what it requires. There was a chance to get this done. It was bipartisan approach, but its been rejected. Im going to bring them together. Both of you, on this subject, there are other questions that also go to this. Skepticism, not necessarily about you, but all people in politics. Why is that . Well, first of all, jim, i would like to respond to what the governor just said. Because the trillion dollars that has been promised to young people has also been promised to older people. And you cannot keep both promises. If youre in your mid40s under the governors plan, Social Security will be bankrupt by the time you retire if he takes it out of the Social Security trust fund. Under my plan, solvency will be extended until youre 100. Now, that is the difference. And the governor may not want to answer that question. He may want to call it a high school debating trick, but let me tell you this. This election is not about debating tricks